


Suffocating in the Darkness

by lurking_in_the_background



Series: The Dannsair [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Master/Slave, Psychological Trauma, Slavery, sunlight deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-24 19:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22123123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lurking_in_the_background/pseuds/lurking_in_the_background
Summary: The Dannsair longs for the feel of warm sunlight on his face. But so deep underground, he cannot even remember what it feels like to walk in the sunshine.
Series: The Dannsair [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1570828
Kudos: 11





	Suffocating in the Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a discussion in my chemistry class about vitamin D and what might happen if you were deprived of it.

It was so dark here. No sun could reach him here. It hurt him to be this far from the sun that gave him life and healing.

He felt tired and depressed. He ached everywhere; sometimes it hurt him to move from his bed. Sometimes, the Dannsair would get very sick. It was never serious; usually a common cold. But he caught them a lot.

So, his master gave him special food that had some of the things he would normally have gained from the sun; like fish, cheese, and eggs. The Dannsair did not like the fish too much; they tasted disgusting and made him sick to his stomach. The eggs he didn’t mind so much. They were good, as long as they were cooked fully. He especially liked the cheeses his master fed him. His master said that cheese was good for nibbling, which meant he fed his Dannsair from his own hand.

There was always some form of eggs or cheese in at least one of his meals, every day, to give him the nutrients he was lacking. Very rarely was there fish, since his master suspected he was allergic to seafood. Those that tried to feed him fish usually were flogged, since the kitchens had specific instructions not to give him fish or seafood.

Which was all well and good, he supposed. But nothing could replace the nice, warm, tingly feeling of sunshine on his face, or the way sunlight lit up the world around him.

In the beginning, he had begged his master to let him at least go to the mouth of the caves- under guard, he’d pleaded -and at least look at the sun, to turn one hand in that golden, buttery light. He had been denied every time, and he had eventually stopped asking. He was miserable.

He only had vague memories of the sun now, and he could barely remember the sensation of being under the sun. He no longer even dreamed of it, aside from half-remembered snippets of his life Before.

He wondered if he was going to die down here, without the sun ever touching him again. The thought made him cry.

At night, when he felt particularly miserable, he would light a small fire in the little fireplace in his room, and he would sit very close to it, stretching out long, pale fingers to the fire’s warmth, and pretend that it was the sun’s warmth he felt instead.

Sometimes, it helped.

Usually, he was forced to remember, as the fire died, that it was not the sun, but a dying fire, and he would crawl into bed, more miserable and depressed than when he began, and hope for dreams of sunlight and warmth.

**Author's Note:**

> After this, my search history probably looks like I’m holding someone hostage in my basement.


End file.
